Sail-World.com : Laura Baldwin leads way for Australia at Laser Radial World titles

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Sail-World.com : Laura Baldwin leads way for Australia at Laser Radial World titles

Laura Baldwin leads way for Australia at Laser Radial World titles

'Laura Baldwin (Laser Radial)
2009 Sail Melbourne regatta
ISAF Sailing World Cup
© Sport the library/Jeff Cro' Jeff Crow/ Sport the Library ©

The final day of qualifying races has been completed at the Laser Radial World Championship in Largs, Scotland, with Laura Baldwin the best placed Australian sailor after three days of racing.

The Australian Sailing Development Squad athlete (former British Olympian, who at one stage in her GBR career was ranked second in the world. ED)) was finished fourth in the only race of the day, with the result moving her up to 26th overall.

Only one race was possible on day three of the 2010 World Championship with the sailors spending a lot of time waiting for the wind to calm to something manageable and to allow a fair race.

'I'm feeling good after today,' said Baldwin. 'We spent most of the day sitting around waiting for the wind to drop.

Yesterday it was forecast to be windy but we were raced so close to the hills that the winds were light leaving me mentally very tired but I feel refreshed after today’s race and ready for the finals starting tomorrow.'

'We had two recalled starts in which the pin end was biased due to a black cloud just to the left of the course,' she said. 'By the third start the cloud had passed and the line was now even. I decided to start at the committee boat as I felt it was going to be a speed race because it looked even across the course.'

'Halfway up the beat I could see that being on the right side was paying well as I was second to the top mark behind Evi Van Acker and ahead of Sari Multala, these two girls have been my training partners and close friends for years so it felt like the good old days being in amongst them again in a race.

I kept Sari behind me on the long top reach but she got past me on the downwind as did a Polish girl. There are a lot of new faces in the fleet since I last raced at this level at the 2008 World Championship in New Zealand.

'Sailing downwind and looking ahead of me the bunch behind on the left closed the gap considerably whilst the bunch on the right slipped back so I opted to go right again up the second beat and this paid,' said Baldwin.

'My last legs to the finish were relaxed, I had a big gap behind and also in front as I didn't bang the right corner like the leaders, opting to play a little more conservatively by tacking back in to cover the fleet from a better position.'

'So with no one to attack in front nor defend behind I just relaxed and enjoyed the sail to the finish.'

'This place is very difficult to predict and anything can happen, it requires good observation and quick reactions,' said Baldwin. 'The forecast is for about six knots tomorrow from the east which is the trickiest direction though as it flows over such high land, one thing is for sure though it will be another cold and cloudy day.'

The Australian Sailing Team’s Krystal Weir finished in 28th position in the day’s race and will join Baldwin in the Gold fleet after ending the qualifying series in 43rd position.

The Olympic representative in the Yngling class at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be keen to move further up the leader board once the regatta is split into Gold and Silver fleets for the final three days of the event.

Queensland teenager Ashley Stoddart finished 33rd on the water today and ended the qualification races in 60th position in second appearance at the Laser Radial World Championship.

Megan de Lange was 39th in the day’s race which sees her finish the qualifying in 81st overall.

Racing continues in Scotland on Monday with the 2010 Laser Radial World Championship to be decided on Wednesday, July 14.

by Craig Heydon

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2:36 AM Mon 12 Jul 2010 GMT

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